No passengers under the age of 18?

[arielmomma]

18 hours ago, cruz040864 said:

Please forgive my ignorance and I mean no disrespect, but I must ask why would a family with children choose to cruise on Cunard?  Clearly the activities and the ship itself is not geared towards children.  Won't they be bored?  I would think one of the family mass market cruise lines would better suit families.  Just asking.  

My family loves sailing Cunard. On our last cruise they were ages 12 & 15. They do not take advantage of the kids club activities. They prefer to participate in the adult activities with us. My daughter loved the RADA classes and the daytime plays and music. My son learned to play bridge. We all participated in ballroom dance, paddle tennis, organized games, the planetarium, checked out library books, etc. Don't tell my husband, but my son is my favorite ballroom dance partner! I love twirling around the floor with him. The other passengers onboard always made my children feel welcome. There are plenty of activities for open minded, well-behaved young people onboard. 

Edited October 15, 2020 by arielmomma

[cruz040864]

1 hour ago, arielmomma said:

My family loves sailing Cunard. On our last cruise they were ages 12 & 15. They do not take advantage of the kids club activities. They prefer to participate in the adult activities with us. My daughter loved the RADA classes and the daytime plays and music. My son learned to play bridge. We all participated in ballroom dance, paddle tennis, organized games, the planetarium, checked out library books, etc. Don't tell my husband, but my son is my favorite ballroom dance partner! I love twirling around the floor with him. The other passengers onboard always made my children feel welcome. There are plenty of activities for open minded, well-behaved young people onboard. 

That is so awesome!!!!!!

[K_e_short]

On 10/14/2020 at 2:47 PM, cruz040864 said:

Please forgive my ignorance and I mean no disrespect, but I must ask why would a family with children choose to cruise on Cunard?  Clearly the activities and the ship itself is not geared towards children.  Won't they be bored?  I would think one of the family mass market cruise lines would better suit families.  Just asking.  

 

My 13 year old son is obsessed with Titanic. He knows everything about Titanic. He is DESPERATE to cruise the same route as the Titanic.

He loves architecture. He loves the history of Cunard. He was devasted that we had to cancel our trip to California because the only reason we got the idea to go to California was because of the Queen Mary at Long Beach.

We've tried Carnival and we hated the loud noise, the party atmosphere, the extensive drinking, and basically the party boat theme. 🙂

[Underwatr]

The Christmas Caribbean cruise has a fair number of children, who are kept entertained and mostly out of sight.

[Etta1213]

On 10/4/2020 at 4:29 AM, exlondoner said:

 

I imagine they don't want to be turning children away from the children's clubs, leaving them an excuse to maraude round the ship annoying crumblies like me.

"Crumblies"? 🤗. That is so cute! I want to visit the UK mostly to sit around here and there and listen to you talk !

[MelbTone]

6 hours ago, K_e_short said:

He loves architecture. He loves the history of Cunard. He was devasted that we had to cancel our trip to California because the only reason we got the idea to go to California was because of the Queen Mary at Long Beach.

If he's into the history of Cunard, you could lose him for many hours looking at all the beautiful pictures of Cunard ships throughout the QM2. I think Cunard are missing a trick not selling prints of same. And visiting the original Queen Mary at Long Beach is a great experience, even better if you stay on board as I did in 2012. 

[exlondoner]

11 hours ago, K_e_short said:

 

My 13 year old son is obsessed with Titanic. He knows everything about Titanic. He is DESPERATE to cruise the same route as the Titanic.

He loves architecture. He loves the history of Cunard. He was devasted that we had to cancel our trip to California because the only reason we got the idea to go to California was because of the Queen Mary at Long Beach.

We've tried Carnival and we hated the loud noise, the party atmosphere, the extensive drinking, and basically the party boat theme. 🙂

 

This is no doubt stating the obvious, but I assume he has been to Halifax, which at the moment is probably the nearest you can get to the Titanic. When you do get the TA, make sure you visit Belfast, while you are over.

[ace2542]

15 hours ago, Underwatr said:

The Christmas Caribbean cruise has a fair number of children, who are kept entertained and mostly out of sight.

And the westbound TA leg of that cruise back in 2017 leaving on December 15th had a number of children whose parents will have been fined for taking them out of school in term time.

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

And the westbound TA leg of that cruise back in 2017 leaving on December 15th had a number of children whose parents will have been fined for taking them out of school in term time.

 

Not necessarily. The school I taught in had often broken up by then.

[ace2542]

15 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

Not necessarily. The school I taught in had often broken up by then.

You are correct I was unaware of it but in 2017 school broke up on the 16th.

Edited October 17, 2020 by ace2542

[exlondoner]

55 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

You are correct I was unaware of it but in 2017 school broke up on the 16th.

 

There is no set date: it varies by country, local authority, whether the teachers have INSET days, whether the school is private or state, etc...

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, ace2542 said:

You are correct I was unaware of it but in 2017 school broke up on the 16th.

Being slightly pedantic, 16th Dec was a Saturday and any schools which broke up on the 16th,  would probably have broken up on Friday 15th, or maybe before, I haven't bothered to check. That would mean any families with children finishing then, would either make a mad dash  for a late embarkation if near Southampton, or more likely, have the last morning [and the boarding and day Independent schools which finish earlier than state schools often have a lunchtime finish] off.

Edited October 17, 2020 by Victoria2

[K_e_short]

On 10/16/2020 at 6:06 AM, exlondoner said:

 

This is no doubt stating the obvious, but I assume he has been to Halifax, which at the moment is probably the nearest you can get to the Titanic. When you do get the TA, make sure you visit Belfast, while you are over.

We're in Ottawa, Canada.

We did a 4 day trip to Halifax and visited EVERY!!!!! important historic location of the Titanic disaster.

 

Belfast.. totally forgot about that.. thank you for the reminder.

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, K_e_short said:

We're in Ottawa, Canada.

We did a 4 day trip to Halifax and visited EVERY!!!!! important historic location of the Titanic disaster.

 

Belfast.. totally forgot about that.. thank you for the reminder.

 

Even as I posted, I thought I was stating the obvious to the knowledgeable. 😀

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, K_e_short said:

We're in Ottawa, Canada.

We did a 4 day trip to Halifax and visited EVERY!!!!! important historic location of the Titanic disaster.

 

Belfast.. totally forgot about that.. thank you for the reminder.

 

Also when you do make it, two other sites. The former Oceanic House in Cockspur Street off Trafalgar Square, was the White Star Offices, where casualty lists were posted. Then, the wonderful Cunard Building in Liverpool is not open to the public, but it is possible, if you are polite to the doormen, at least to walk through from one side to the other and admire the ground floor.

[bluemarble]

10 minutes ago, K_e_short said:

We're in Ottawa, Canada.

We did a 4 day trip to Halifax and visited EVERY!!!!! important historic location of the Titanic disaster.

 

Belfast.. totally forgot about that.. thank you for the reminder.

 

If you do make it to Ireland for "Titanic Belfast", then you might also want to consider trying to fit in a visit to Cobh. The Cobh Heritage Centre (which I've visited) includes an interesting display about the Titanic and even more to the point "Titanic Experience Cobh" (which I haven't visited) would probably be high on the list for a Titanic fan.